Kusche Takes Second, Huskers Make Strides at Big Ten Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Nebraska cross country teams competed at the Big Ten Championships on Sunday morning at the Ohio State Golf Club.

The Nebraska men finished sixth in the 8K with 172 points, highlighted by George Kusche finishing as the runner-up with a time of 23:57.8. The sixth-place finish as a team was the best finish by the Husker men at a conference meet since finishing sixth at the 2010 Big XII Championships.

Kusche's effort garnered him first-team All-Big Ten accolades for the second consecutive season and was good for the best individual result ever at the Big Ten Championships by a Nebraska male runner. Kusche became the first runner-up at a conference meet for the Big Red since Cleophas Boor at the 1997 Big XII Championships.

"I am pretty happy with the result," Kusche said. "Second is not spectacular but it is an improvement. I am excited to compete at regionals and nationals!"

Kusche led the Huskers and Mark Freyhof was the next Husker to cross the finish line, placing 34th with a time of 24:49.0. Ryan Martins and Wyatt McGuire were the next members of the Big Red to finish and were 39th (24:52.1) and 46th (24:58.2), respectively. Jordan De Spong rounded out the top-five for the men and was 53rd with a time of 25:07.3.

"George (Kusche) ran today to win," Coach Harris said. "Finishing second is great but he still wants to win this meet. He led our team and the guys ran solid behind him. We are getting more and more respect in this league and to beat some of these long established cross country programs is not an easy task. I believe in what we are doing and even the guys back home will be ready to make a move up next year. We will now move on to getting Kusche ready to qualify for nationals. The team has set its sights on a higher regional finish. This program is improving and that is what the captains strive for."

The Husker women placed 10th in the 6K with 283 points, led by Erika Freyhof finishing 23rd with a time of 20:57.9. Erika Freyhof's result was good for the best finish individually by a Husker female at the conference meet since 2014 (Anna Peer, 14th). Overall, the Husker women finished with a one-spot improvement from last season's Big Ten meet and it is the best result for Nebraska at the Big Ten Championships since 2011.

Erika Freyhof led the women, followed by Elsa Forsberg taking 32nd with a PR time of 21:11.2. Forsberg's time was a new personal-best by more than 30 seconds. Judi Jones was 74th in a time of 21:58.1. Gabrielle Boucher ran a personal-best of 22:12.5 to finish 82nd, beating her previous best by more than 20 seconds. Emma Bresser also ran a new 6K personal-best of more than 30-seconds and was 101st with a time of 22:46.8.

"The women moved up today and was in the top 10 at the meet for the first time in years," said Harris. "Not everyone had a great race. We want so much to put our best effort in a race and we have not done that yet. Erika (Freyhof) and Elsa (Forsberg) ran very nice races. Forsberg especially has come a long way in cross country and it speaks well for her future in track as a 1,500-meter runner. We sure needed Emma Bresser's performance today and she came through. She has been training very well. Gabrielle Boucher is so determined to help our team and I do not know where we would be without her. We are improving but still have work to do."

The Huskers will now turn their attention to the NCAA Regionals on Friday, Nov. 15, in Stillwater, Okla. The first race will begin at 11 a.m.